Plumbing Copper or Plastic pipes

SquirrelJ

I am renovating a house and removing the old central heating system which is about 30 years old. My mate is doing the plumbing and he as asked me wheather I want plastic or copper piping.

Question is which shoudl I go for??? Is the price diffrence much??? What are the pros and cons???

Cheers

Tayus

Personnally I'd go for plastic, i work for an M&E services company and we use it most of the time.

downs523

plastic is better and easier to install but copper is cheaper

swarby_2

both have there advantages and disadvantages mainly

copper advantages:

looks neater (if the installer is competent)
fittings are cheaper


copper disadvantages:

pipe is more expensive
takes a lot longer to install
limescale
heat loss

plastic advantages:

quick and simple to install
cheaper pipe
less heat loss
you can often use 1 length with no joints meaning less leaks

plastic disadvantages:

fittings our ugly
looks ugly if you can see it and people have a tendency not to clip it properly
fittings our expensive


these are just a few things i could think off the top of my head, i tend to use copper as i prefer the more professional look and just trust it more

andyhop

once coppers soldered its sealed i have known a few plastic fittings that have blown off

mainly down to cost i would use plastic underfloor but anything on show would be copper

deano72_2

use both maybe,,if its about how it looks.....if its hidden then use plastic,but if seen use copper

hewhoisnotintheknow

silly question but can you get plastic plumbing hose?

mitchj

I used plastic pipe with compression fittings, it is really easy. This might help-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.org/videos/171/plastic-pushfit-pipe